New Level 50 Taskforces with INSANELY Hard End Boss AVs

[America's Angel]

This game desperately needs more level 50 taskforces.

 

3-5 missions maximum.

 

Have the end boss do all sorts of crazy annoying game-breaking stuff. (Some potential options):

• Ignores defense/resistance/absorb IO bonuses
• Ignores damage from procs
• Ignores Absorb & Defense & Resistance
• Is immune to -res, -def, and -HP debuffs.
• Has an autohit attack for -99% HP damage. (With a second DoT for 51%.)
  • Or maybe even autohit autokill?
  • Maybe even an AV that ignores the oneshot code?
• Autohit DDR attack. Stackable.
• Stacks -hp ala Crimson Prototype.
• Each time it hits you, you temporarily lose levels.
• Inspirations greyed out in the mission.

 

Disclaimer: Not all of the above. Some of the above.

 

Even the fight mechanics could be fun. Stuff like:

• The final room is accessed via a door you have to click on. Your entire team needs to click it before it activates. It loads in two people at random. And then another person every 30s. So your first two members would have to find a way to survive until the rest of the team load in.
• It has a cage power that it knows to use on players with the lowest threat.

 

I basically want a bossfight that is unfair on players and unpredictable.

 

And then I want some mad genius to somehow solo it.

Edited March 29, 2021 by America's Angel

[Zappalina]

A long time ago in issue 7 There was an update to AV's which made them impossibly hard to kill and took a long time, they were super buffed.  This was before incarnates, people complained so much about the AVs being so hard to kill that they changed them back.  I thought it was kind of fun but -regen was definitely needed and I seem to recall a bunch of rad's being rolled out because of this change.   They were changed back to more manageable levels shortly after.  If this is ever instituted maybe go back to that level of arch-villain/arch-hero? if that's the right word for the hero version of defeat that was temporarily instated back in the day.

[SeraphimKensai]

Try the 802.1 series AE missions if you want hard.

[Razor Cure]

I don't know..this sounds ok as an idea, but in practice? People have varied definitions of 'hard content.' I mean, look at Incarnate Trails. Most leagues will smash em, but I have seen some go really bad because people were underpowered or clueless.

Also some combinations of powers, on an AV, are just utterly stupid.

As an example. An AE mission with a WP tank av. Mind you, this was back when AE was new, so the set may have been toned down. But I did the arc with teh following team: Brute, Blaster, Kin, TWO Rad corrs and a COld corr...and we couldnt kill him. His regen was just insane. Something like that coupled with some of your suggestions? Eeew.

ANother example. Look at Reichsman. That fight is NOT hard at all. He is just a huger huge bag of HP. The fight does not come of as epic or challenging to me, just a time sink because some Devs could not think of a better finale.

[MTeague]

Personally, I'd prefer a plethora of lvl 44-and-below TF's. 

But I'd be okay with 1 lvl 44-and-below TF created for every 3 lvl 50 TF's that are created. 

 

MOST people will want the max-level-content, or, such is my perception. 

I'd just like an occasional bone thrown to the non-incarnates.

[Coyotedancer]

City of Dark Souls... 

 

I'm sure that would appeal to somebody, but that "somebody" is about 112% not me. 

I'm with MT, here. We need new content at all levels, and I'd just as soon see time and effort put into things that are accessible to the largest number of players.

 

UberL33t-only end-game Cheaty McCheaterson boss-fights are just NOT that. 

[Doomguide2005]

6 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

I don't know..this sounds ok as an idea, but in practice? People have varied definitions of 'hard content.' I mean, look at Incarnate Trails. Most leagues will smash em, but I have seen some go really bad because people were underpowered or clueless.

Also some combinations of powers, on an AV, are just utterly stupid.

As an example. An AE mission with a WP tank av. Mind you, this was back when AE was new, so the set may have been toned down. But I did the arc with teh following team: Brute, Blaster, Kin, TWO Rad corrs and a COld corr...and we couldnt kill him. His regen was just insane. Something like that coupled with some of your suggestions? Eeew.

ANother example. Look at Reichsman. That fight is NOT hard at all. He is just a huger huge bag of HP. The fight does not come of as epic or challenging to me, just a time sink because some Devs could not think of a better finale.

     Reminds me when I was on a team shortly before issue 12.  It was an open beta team.  Started with 8 players, not sure how many stuck it out as our level 50 team was getting slapped silly at several points but the final map, final mission and AV ... oh my.

 

     Now they did change some things before it went Live.  These days teams generally have few problems, certainly nothing like we had.  We have Empaths soloing the thing at +4/×8 for crying out loud.

 

     That task force was and is the ITF.  Knowledge and experience matter far more than we sometimes acknowledge.  Is this game easy?  Most certainly yes! but I think it's important to remember HC is loaded with veterans whose knowledge of the game are responsible for some of that 'easy' brokeness we experience.  To a team of new players chunks of it might not quite reach City of Dark Souls but ...

 

And yes you want some challenge by all accounts the 801.0 series should fit the bill. Starts relatively easy and steadily ramps up the challenge as you move through the series.  801.7 will likely stress a full Incarnate team and it proceeds up from there.

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Doomguide2005
801.0 series mention

[Mezmera]

8 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Try the 802.1 series AE missions if you want hard.

 

Yeah @America's Angel put your talents to use, see if you can solo one of these +4x8.  

 

But yeah more high level official stuffs to do would be appreciated, since it polled out as one of the higher things people wanted and all.  New fly was neat though.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Mezmera

[Mezmera]

6 hours ago, MTeague said:

Personally, I'd prefer a plethora of lvl 44-and-below TF's. 

But I'd be okay with 1 lvl 44-and-below TF created for every 3 lvl 50 TF's that are created. 

 

MOST people will want the max-level-content, or, such is my perception. 

I'd just like an occasional bone thrown to the non-incarnates.

 

You're getting bones thrown left and right, where has there been any new content not sub-50?  You do realize there's a crap ton of stuff to do before level 45? 

 

I mean the amount to do end game pales way in comparison, was hoping Going Rogue would have balanced that upwards but alas not.  Now we have 3 tutorial zones to choose from.  More to do endgame is still more content for any alt-ist.  

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Mezmera

[Giovanni Valia]

3 hours ago, Coyotedancer said:

City of Dark Souls...

 

And that's a good thing!

 

In all seriousness, some people really enjoy the challenge of tough missions on their "perfected" characters. I would love more TFs to really test the limits of my incarnate alts. I've played AE missions that others have made, including 802.1, and ones that I have made with all bosses/ EBs. Even these are still not enough to pose a major threat to a prepared team.

[krj12]

I could see something like this IF there were some kind of option in the TF settings to turn the "insane difficulty" on or off.  Not everyone wants that level of difficulty,

and I don't want a repeat of what I experienced in Neverwinter where only the insanely geared people were welcome in end game content.

 

It probably wouldnt hurt to add a level or two to the regular mobs in the mission on the difficult setting.

 

 

[Andreah]

I want more end game content; and more middle game content.

 

I don't want more game-breaking mechanics on bosses.

 

I want bosses that are strong and play better within the mechanics rules we have.

 

I want bosses that act like commanders and not champions. Bosses that are difficult because they exercise direction over their underlings, and these underlings are dangerous because they're coordinated and directed by that boss.

 

I want my team to have to overcome tactics and good play, not stupid stuff.

 

It's a lot to ask for, but we're in the future.

[Myrmidon]

On 3/29/2021 at 1:09 PM, America's Angel said:

This game desperately needs more level 50 taskforces.

Emphasis on this instead of more trials as nauseam.

 

We have Incarnate powers and seven years of lost Incarnate-level content. More like Dark Astoria with TF options would be great.

[dangeraaron10]

At this point I'd rather the team improve the functionality of AE, that way we have an easier time making a broad spectrum of content for all levels and tastes.  As opposed to trying to be big wallet developers with bimonthly content updates to suit all our playstyles.  Given the limited time and resources of the devs, improving user generated content tools would be more pragmatic than manually adding content themselves which will always be divisive.

 

But if I had a choice, I'd go with higher level content since our last round of missions is mid range.  And stuff that challenges Incarnates of moderate means.  That way unideal team comps can still win, even with a good deal of patience and coordination required to do so.

[EmperorSteele]

So basically you want some new TFs balanced around incarnates and Sets instead of just SOs?

 

I'm game for that 😃

 

Heck, I'll even take Incarnate-boosted versions of the current endgame TFs (they'd be optional, of course)!

[Grindingsucks]

46 minutes ago, EmperorSteele said:

So basically you want some new TFs balanced around incarnates and Sets instead of just SOs?

 

I'm game for that 😃

 

Heck, I'll even take Incarnate-boosted versions of the current endgame TFs (they'd be optional, of course)!

 

Sign me up for that. 👆  We need it badly for high-lvl team play. 

 

The devs have given some indications they're interested in having a go at the Coming Storm arc that was teased before live went down.  If they do, I have some hope that we might get a little of what we're asking for here.

[huang3721]

 

On 3/30/2021 at 1:09 AM, America's Angel said:

Has an autohit attack for -99% HP damage.

 

Sin harvest? Nice!

 

On 3/30/2021 at 1:09 AM, America's Angel said:

Each time it hits you, you temporarily lose levels.

Another idea: we could turn a boss fight into a time attack mode. All team members lost a level every 2 minutes or so. The game will restore their level after they defeat the boss or fail the mission. (Or should it? Mua ha ha ha ha!)

 

 

On 3/30/2021 at 1:09 AM, America's Angel said:

• Ignores defense/resistance/absorb IO bonuses
• Ignores damage from procs
• Ignores Absorb & Defense & Resistance

I love this idea. Make it a power that kills any enhancement. This will give everyone a chance to succeed (or fail) regardless of their build slotting. This way, we have to rely on our primary, secondary powers and teammates. Everyone can challenge said boss, as long as they have enough primary or secondary powers options.

 

No need to design a custom boss! Simply remove those enhancements (TO,DO,SO,IO, whatever), bonuses, power-ups, and done!

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by huang3721
typo

[Doomguide2005]

37 minutes ago, huang3721 said:

 

 

Sin harvest? Nice!

 

Another idea: we could turn a boss fight into a time attack mode. All team members lost a level every 2 minutes or so. The game will restore their level after they defeat the boss or fail the mission. (Or should it? Mua ha ha ha ha!)

 

 

I love this idea. Make it a power that kills any enhancement. This will give everyone a chance to succeed (or fail) regardless of their build slotting. This way, we have to rely on our primary, secondary powers and teammates. Everyone can challenge said boss, as long as they have enough primary or secondary powers options.

 

No need to design a custom boss! Simply remove those enhancements (TO,DO,SO,IO, whatever), bonuses, power-ups, and done!

 

The no enhancement option exists already.  First It exists in the Oroborous settings as a choice.  Second, unless you've used all your alternate builds you can always just use one of them sans slotting to do this.

 

And "losing a level" sounds a lot like the ultimate timed mission as once you become -6 or -7 relative levels lower you aren't going to succeed, attack mechanics and purple patch say even if you can survive at that point your kill speed is essentially 'not happening' certainly not fast enough to prevent you from hitting say -30 levels etc..   Not when attacks that normally do 1000 damage are down to 150 or 80 before any foe damage resistance is accounted for (nevermind passive regen and active healing occurring).  So how temporary and how long such a debuff lasts is extremely critical.

[MTeague]

Some degree of raid / trial / TF fights to keep things interesting?  Maybe. But there should be limits.

 

I served eight years in a raiding guild in WoW.

I hung up those gloves, and they're NOT coming back down. 

 

I will not do any content that requires me to watch a video to understand key mechanics of the upcoming fight, and requires me to install Deadly Boss Mods or something like that to do sound alerts, and have everyone in the same VOIP channel so a raidleader can bark out instructions to members of the team. 

 

 

Never again. 

Never.

 

 

[BLVD]

4 hours ago, dangeraaron10 said:

At this point I'd rather the team improve the functionality of AE, that way we have an easier time making a broad spectrum of content for all levels and tastes.  As opposed to trying to be big wallet developers with bimonthly content updates to suit all our playstyles.  Given the limited time and resources of the devs, improving user generated content tools would be more pragmatic than manually adding content themselves which will always be divisive.

 

But if I had a choice, I'd go with higher level content since our last round of missions is mid range.  And stuff that challenges Incarnates of moderate means.  That way unideal team comps can still win, even with a good deal of patience and coordination required to do so.

 

Agreed. I think this is the best solution to this.

 

If we could do things like set the mission door location to any map and add cutscenes, I think this would be the most viable way to get new content. It may be too much of a stretch to request to add those to AE though.. It would also be great if you could REALLY customize NPC's (increase max height, etc). If all of those changes were added, I could see players coming up with a lot of TF's where the quality matches Market Crash.  

[Andreah]

I'd like to see a new variation on AE where you can pick an existing open-world contact to be your arc point of contact, and use radio-mission style door selections in zones yo specify for each mission.

 

At least, for some arc, let us abandon this fiction that this is all inside a holo-simulation and make convincing analogues of real story arcs and task forces.

 

Let me start one of these for my team using the mission architect remote tablet, or something like that. 

 

Get me out of the AE building. %$!^#$#!!

[BLVD]

4 minutes ago, Andreah said:

Get me out of the AE building. %$!^#$#!!

 

This. I think the fact you have to be in the AE building is what deters people from using it to write stories. But I suppose this has major thematic inconsistencies. Maybe Portal Corp and AE come up with a breakthrough that allows us to use portals to enter special AE task forces? 

[Andreah]

I don't see that they need any special justification. Within the continuity of players I group with, these are NOT AE stories at all. They're real stories, on an equal, and often higher, plane than developer written stories. They require no further justification. They just need the current artificial justifications we're forced to ignore to get out of the way.

 

It's like this:

 

Me: I use the User Interface to start a story I created using these authoring tools.

 

My character to my team: "Hey everyone, I heard Azuria at MAGI in Atlas Park has some trouble she was us to look into."

 

We go there and she is the first contact for my five-mission arc. She might send us to a cave door in Talos for the first mission. At completion of that, she might send us to talk to yet another contact for the next mission in another zone. That next mission might be a board train to start. After that, maybe it's back to Azuria, and mission three is a building door in peregrine. And so on. 

 

Remove the AE pretense that it's a simulation. 

[MTeague]

The only thing is Ok, I write an AE story that kills off the entire Freedom Phalanx, and Lord Recluse, and has Captain Mako and the Coralax rise to power.  Note:  I have no such arc. This is 100% theorectical. But for sake of argument, let's say I did. Such a story is never going to be on par with, and as "legit" as, a developer released story.  We don't get to decide Who Will Die in the same way.  We can only offer up stories for consideration and enjoyment of other players.

 

But I love the idea of AE missions that are actually Story-Driven, to be available in AE (because why take them away?) and, available "in the wild", like regular contacts, if you chose to Add that group of missions to some kind of Preference List / Bookmark / Favorite.  There would need to be some way for the mission writer to say "I intend this to start in the Founder's Falls" or "I intend this to start in Imperial City", or "I intend this to start in St Martial", but I would love it.

[Andreah]

Well, not for the whole server. But a group of players working their own internal continuity might decide their story took precedence over the other, official, arcs. I haven't been with a group that has done this, but again, theoretically, they might, and then their stories are it.